I want to preface this post by telling you
a) this is just focusing on Glasgow and Edinburgh or it would have been 40 pages long
b) I love Scotland, and
c) if you’re vegan, Scotland loves you (I mean, I’m not saying they don’t love you if you’re not vegan, but you’re DEFINITELY loved if you are vegan, know what I’m saying?).
Last week I went on a flying trip around the country. My first stop was Edinburgh, one of my favourite cities in the UK! Continue reading
Dubai is one of those places that has a very distinct reputation; you’re not going for the culture, the history or the scenery, you’re going for the shopping, the money and the ritzy hotels. I mean, what is there to actually do apart from ogle at the money splashed around? At least, that’s what I thought before I went.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find pockets of history; the museum and the covered markets in the old part of town. Of course, there are a huge number of flashy hotels and massive skyscrapers as well! It’s definitely an unusual place; the people are a rough mix of expats, young Arabs working in hospitality and recent graduates working in the city. Just 11% of the population are native to the country. Can you imagine the UK with just 11% of the population being British? It is crazy.
I really loved the old town, where we got around via water taxi (as shown in the pictures) and I especially enjoyed Dubai Museum which is housed in the old fort. It is astonishing to think the fort was at one point the capitals main building for defence: a huge fixture on an otherwise empty landscape. Today it is not even the most notable building on that street- we actually walked past it and had to double back as it is surrounded by skyscrapers.
Dubai has undergone MASSIVE growth in the last century, with the population increasing from 3000 at the turn of the century to 2 million in 2013. As anybody who has been will tell you, building seems to be constantly ongoing with a development site every which way you turn. It was really bizarre to think about what it must have been like to watch this huge modern city spring up around you in an otherwise very empty part of the desert. Have you been to Dubai, and if so, what did you think?
Hola from Barcelona! I spent most of last week in Barcelona, one of my favourite European cities. I went with 3 other girls and we had such a fun week: living like locals, running around museums, exploring backroads and side streets and meeting lots of amazing people.
I think travel is so important. I’ve spoken about this before and every time I go away it’s something that crystallises even more in my mind. I’m in the unique position that I’d racked up 3 different continents before I was 2 years old as my immediate family is spread across the globe. I think my whole life I’ve grown up with the sense that the rest of the world is just around the corner, rather than imagining “travel” to be some huge insurmountable obstacle I’ll tackle when I’m older.
It’s often considered lucky to be able to travel but really if you’ve got a little bit of money and a bit of time where you’re not directly needed there’s not much else you need to go away (maybe a cheerful attitude and an open mind). Like most people in the UK I spent a lot of university going on European excursions with my friends – every time our student loans came we would pick a new destination for reading week and live on beans the rest of the term (RIP £5 Ryanair flights). I’m already planning my next 3 trips this year and I’m so excited to see the rest of the world! Where would you like to go?
I originally wanted to call this “Denbies through the Seasons” but I’m not entirely sure my real life cynicism, sarcasm and constant irony really come through on this blog and was worried people might think I was being serious. Anyway, these photos are from Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking. I first visited back on one of the first sunny days of the year, and it was lovely to visit again and see the changing colours of the leaves against the perennially golden fields.
If things look a little different, I’m trying out my new camera lens! This lens will take some getting used to as it has an incredibly shallow depth of field which is great for portraits as it focuses on one subject (i.e. notice how blurry and undefined the backgrounds are in the photos of me), but I do like taking shots that show detailed tableaus and this lens is not great for that (i.e. the banana sign is way clearer than the others, where as in previous posts those kind of flat detailed shots are very clear as I’m using my other lens – like this one).
I’m wearing my newish Orla Kiely coat (!!!) which was 65% off in their sample sale and then a further 35% off the marked sample sale price when I got to the till (isn’t that the best feeling ever?) and my new shoes which were £6 from New Look in the sale. One of the many perks of having massive feet is your size is always left over in the sales. I love mustard (both as a colour and a condiment) and have wanted a coat in mustard and gold for such a long time, so it was like a dream present to myself. Does anybody else have dream items in their mind which rarely seem to actually exist?
P.S. I’m going to be shutting down my Raccoon Circus Facebook page soon so please follow me here or here instead and I recently signed up to both LookBook and Pinterest, so you use those sites do let me know! 
Coat – Orla Kiely (sample sale), shoes – New Look (sale), dress – Miss Patina (sale), bag – ModCloth (gift), leggings – Tesco, socks – Monki
TAPE PARADE 